What are we working on for January?

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I'm happy with my core practices (emptiness, some standing, chant in the shower, kunlun on the toilet), yet I'm looking for something extra to do in January. Winter..it seems a time for hunkering down, gathering.

I suppose Tumo..ie body heating which I learned in Kap would be good. Also taking a few blood thinning herbs might be good for warmth.

What else??? I'm still working on Lucid Dreaming. I've gotten Stephen LaBerge's book Lucid Dreaming, A concise Guide..', I've been listening to the guided meditations in it daily. Result, as per usual heightened insomnia, yet I can't help but think if I can push past it, the book might open some doors.

Or just more. More sitting, I've been only sitting for 20 to 30 minutes lately. Maybe winters a time to up it.

Today I listened to a podcast of Eckhardt Tolle. I think I got it from Zencast, it was him reading his book and it was set to biaural beats. It felt powerful. A big reminder to set aside thoughts, watch'em but don't be them. Be separate, don't confuse yourself with thoughts.

This actually echoes the Lucid Dreaming meditations which constantly ask 'Who is aware?'

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I'm happy with my core practices (emptiness, some standing, chant in the shower, kunlun on the toilet), yet I'm looking for something extra to do in January. Winter..it seems a time for hunkering down, gathering.

I suppose Tumo..ie body heating which I learned in Kap would be good. Also taking a few blood thinning herbs might be good for warmth.

What else??? I'm still working on Lucid Dreaming. I've gotten Stephen LaBerge's book Lucid Dreaming, A concise Guide..', I've been listening to the guided meditations in it daily. Result, as per usual heightened insomnia, yet I can't help but think if I can push past it, the book might open some doors.

Or just more. More sitting, I've been only sitting for 20 to 30 minutes lately. Maybe winters a time to up it.

Today I listened to a podcast of Eckhardt Tolle. I think I got it from Zencast, it was him reading his book and it was set to biaural beats. It felt powerful. A big reminder to set aside thoughts, watch'em but don't be them. Be separate, don't confuse yourself with thoughts.

This actually echoes the Lucid Dreaming meditations which constantly ask 'Who is aware?'

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I'm happy with my core practices (emptiness, some standing, chant in the shower, kunlun on the toilet), yet I'm looking for something extra to do in January. Winter..it seems a time for hunkering down, gathering.

I suppose Tumo..ie body heating which I learned in Kap would be good. Also taking a few blood thinning herbs might be good for warmth.

You could do a little palm/heat training - if you've done any laogung breathing before, extrapolate that concept and inhale the heat through the laogung. Works good with a fire or with the heat vents in the car. (once you've got some proficiency mess with it, push back at the heat, do tummo and bring the heat to your palm, see how it differs from the external heat, bring it back2dt, make it bright.)

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I think I'm going to switch back to Flying Phoenix Chi Kung for a couple weeks. I'll do the sitting sets in the morning and the standing sets at night. Its been a while since I've focused on FPCK (since August), and in the past it has had the effect of an energetic power wash; really opening up the channels. I only stopped practicing after six months because I felt like a misalignment in my hip was preventing me from progressing and that it needed to be adjusted via non FPCK means. So I've also been practicing yoga and to help with alignment.

I feel like I've got my energetic 'plumbing' more closely aligned now and some FPCK might really flush out the system in a profound way. FPCK was the first chi kung practice that had a tangible energetic effect for me, so maybe it is special to me because of that. At any rate, I'm kind of excited to go back to the practice, if even for a short time. It may be longer, depending on how it goes.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Green Tiger

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I'm going to be doing some pretty basic sensing of the body meditations to try to integrate myself more emotionally, while continue to search for a Taoist/any other teacher who really understands healing on a deep level.